The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-06-22

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man saw them and motioning his hand for
them to halt, they drew rein. and he
I galloped up TO them.
1T is Tom Long, one of the tcamsters,
said Charley.
So it proved.
"wall, Tom, what yer want?" asked
Cylone.
"The Apaches are down the valley"
"Thunderation-we know that. Whars
the train?"
That's jist what come to tell We about"
"Wall, GO ahead an tell it.
"Yes, yes. put in Charley Myrtle, his
face growing still paler as his anxiety in
creased. where is the wagon train? Has
il crossed the river?"
"Yes, an is on the way across the mount
ing range above here"
Great Scott" gasped Old Cyclone, "the
pesky varmints II overhaul EN- sure afore
they kin git across"
"The Captain said they would, and sent
me on to tell We to hold Limestone Gap
agin EN- fur three hours.
Three hours! why we'll hev hundred
to fight"
Cant help it," said the teamster, cts
got 20 be done"
For a moment the veteran frontiersman,
the hero of a hundred battles. sat on his
pony voraciously chewing the huge quid of
tobacco in his mouth. At last he said
wall, boys. eff it's got ter be done thar
amt no use o whinin'; now all I've got ter
say is eff the thing kin be did, we kin do it.
But, say, Tenderfoot, ye'd better jist keep
right on ter the train.
"Why?"
"Thar's goin to be a scrimmage."
well, what if there is?" said Charley,
bravely. My parents are with that train,
and I'm going to help defend EN-"
Pluck, boys, by jemany," growled Old
| Cyclone.
isn't there some way that the Apaches
could go around this pass, flank us, and
| get to the train
"No, not if they're across the river.
They got to git through Limesun Gap,
or they can't tack the train"
"Some one must go back TO the train,
said Tom Long. They want word sent EN-"
eyed better so, Tenderfoot," said Cy-
clone.
NO, sir; all whom | have are with that
train, and | shall stay here to defend
/ them, said Charley, proudly and bravely.
Wall, youngster, l admire ye," said Old
! Cyclone, "but We don't know what's COM
! in! There's goin ter be blood shed. leye
never smelt powder an heerd bullets
screech; yer don't know what it is. The
men who stay here three hours hev jist
about got free pass inter etarnity.
IL will lose my life, if necessary, de-
Tending my parents, brothers, and sisters,
said the brave boy.
Then. Tom, yed better go back yer
self" said the old scout.
Tom was rather inclined TO stay at the
! Gap, but as Old Cyclone had some in
formation to send to the captain of the
train in regard to the number of the
Apaches, and the place where they would
be safe from them. he had to go.
"Hev We plenty o cartridges?" asked Tom.
Il dun know. Leave yer gun an all yer
got" said Cyclone. We'll want em afore
we're through wi this.
Tom did so, and galloped away toward
! the train.
The four horsemen rode back 10 the pass
not over hundred yards away, and Old
! Cyclone examined it and the surrounding
! hills with an experienced eye. He saw at
! q glance the strong and weak points in the
! defense of the gap. The narrow pass lay
between two tall bluffs, one of which was
twenty feet higher than the other.
A short distance back these heights could
be reached, as the ground was sloping
enough to ride the horses up to them. Old
! Cyclone then wheeled about again. with his
followers at his heels, and galloped to these
! points, and Old Zach and Charley went up
/
cended 10 the other.
These elevations were so near that the
scouts could converse with each other
without speaking much above a conversa-
tional tone. In addition to his own Win
chester, Old Cyclone had the gun of Tom
Long.
"Dismount, boys, an lay down on the
edge o the cliff, said Old Cyclone, then
We kin pick EN- of without bein seem"
They sprang from their horses, and,
leaving them little way back, so as not
to be in the range of bullets from below,
ciept to the edge of the bluffs which over
looked the pass.
At Old Cyclones direction each man
placed a large number of heavy stones on
the edge of the bluff, which might be
available to hurl down upon the heads of
the enemy.
Remember if they get through the pass"
continued Old Cyclone, lit amt fur they'll
hey ter go till they kin git up here on the
bluff an lift our ha'r."
Every one understood the importance OF
allowing no one to go through the pass.
Lay low, they amt far away" said Old
Cyclone.
Charley, with his rifle ready, crept to the
edge of the bluff where he could sweep the
pass and expose but very little of his per-
son.
The others had secured favorable posi-
| tons.
Only n few moments elapsed, when
Charley saw dark form fitting up toward
the pass not more than four or five hundred
yards away. Another, another, aud an
other came around the bend until fully
fifty were in sight, and then in a solid
mass, silently but swiftly they advanced
toward the pass.
Old Cyclone leveled his rifle, and when
they had come TO within two hundred PAGES
of the gap, he bawled out to the foremost
among the Apaches:
Hold on thar, We pesky red varmint; yer
won't? then here goes" And Old Cyclone S
rifle belched forth fire and smoke.
Charley, who watched with no little in
terest the effect of the shot, saw the Apache
leap into the air and fall back upon the
rocks.
A whoop which seemed to make the
canyon tremble now rose from the Indians,
and the air shook with the rapid discharge
of Apache guns.
The bullets whistled like rain about the
four men, but they were hard marks to hit
in their position.
Charley found his nerves much steadier
than he had expected after the first volley.